Arcade Fire

(not Charlton related)

Thanks to a miscommunication with the immigration officer that welcomed me back to the US last weekend, tomorrow will be the most pointless day of my life. Instead of stamping my passport with 'March 31st 2009', he instead stamped it with 'March 31st 2007'.

Despite my best efforts to get the mistake corrected, I have been advised to leave the country and return again before Saturday to ensure I don't inadvertently become an 'illegal immigrant'. It's a complete waste of time and money, but I'm not yet ready to change my name to José and clear tables in New York restaurants. Hence tomorrow I will be flying to Montreal, hanging around in the airport for a couple of hours and then flying straight back home again. What this administrative cock-up is doing to my 'carbon footprint' I daren't even imagine.

The only bright spot of this unexpected trip is that it affords me brief homage to the hometown of my favourite band of the moment, Arcade Fire. Their first album 'Funeral' is the most outstanding album I have heard in a decade, and their latest offering 'Neon Bible' again has me shaking my head in sheer wonder. Their music is dark, beautiful and overlaid with as many instruments as an orchestra; you will hate it the first time you listen to it, and then one day like me, you'll have an ephiphany.

After an inauspicious beginning, Arcade Fire slowly built a reputation that translated into genuine record sales, and generated a following that borders on fanaticism. It must be a frustration that the painfully mediocre Coldplay sell millions more records, but in fairness Chris Martin had the humility to declare Arcade Fire to be, "..the greatest band in the history of music." Then again I think a band needs to sell a critical mass of records to be taken seriously in the music annals, else an obscure band's 'genius' offering borders upon narcissism.

There is something special though about hearing an epic debut album, though it is usually tempered by a band's second offering. For example in recent years The Stone Roses, The Libertines, (yep, Daily Mail readers, that's Pete Doherty), The Strokes, and even Oasis produced impeccable debuts, yet each followed it up with solid yet unspectacular follow-ups.

However whilst 'Neon Bible' doesn't quite match the majesty of 'Funeral', I think Arcade Fire have just about met the near-impossible expectations they set themselves. In terms of back-to-back albums that actually generated some reasonable sales, I would consider them to be equal or even superior to, 'The Bends' and 'OK Computer' by Radiohead in the 1990s. However whilst Radiohead tend to leave me in a something of a hypnotic trance, it is hard not to be energised by Arcade's Fire, well....energy.

There were some exceptional bands/performers in the 1960s-80s period of course, but productivity has been hampered by the short-termism of the labels and incessant touring. When bands like The Fall or Sonic Youth churn out dozens (of usually brilliant) albums, they very much become the exception that proves the rule, which is why I urge you to embrace Arcade Fire before they too 'burn themselves out'.